Re: Scared!!

So far we have good news. Besides what they found when they opened her up, her surgery went smoothly. When we talked to them at 6:30, they just brought her out and were waiting on her to wake up. As long as things go well tonight and in the morning, we should be able to go visit her tomorrow afternoon.

Apparently none of their doctors had ever seen what they found. Somehow her intestines may have got punctured or she has some kind of disorder or something going on that caused a hole to form. That hole on one line of intestine fused to a parallel intestine and something about what they described as a kind of "net" in the digestive area curled around the fused part and it created a pocket. It looks like when she wasn't as sick that a lot of things were able to go through whatever opening there was to the rest of the intestines; however, it finally completely got blocked by food and hair (I guess from licking herself??) and made her sicker. The complete blockage is what they felt when they felt the lump I am guessing.

Anyway, she came through surgery and now it is a waiting game. They are watching her closely for the next few days for signs of infection, pancreatitis, and not healing. They sent the baseball sized "pocket" to pathology and they will look to see if it may have been due to a disease, congenital, etc. She might have to be on a special diet for the rest of her life. We just don't know the extent of everything at this point, but she did make it through surgery.

Re: Scared!!

So far we have good news. Besides what they found when they opened her up, her surgery went smoothly. When we talked to them at 6:30, they just brought her out and were waiting on her to wake up. As long as things go well tonight and in the morning, we should be able to go visit her tomorrow afternoon.

Apparently none of their doctors had ever seen what they found. Somehow her intestines may have got punctured or she has some kind of disorder or something going on that caused a hole to form. That hole on one line of intestine fused to a parallel intestine and something about what they described as a kind of "net" in the digestive area curled around the fused part and it created a pocket. It looks like when she wasn't as sick that a lot of things were able to go through whatever opening there was to the rest of the intestines; however, it finally completely got blocked by food and hair (I guess from licking herself??) and made her sicker. The complete blockage is what they felt when they felt the lump I am guessing.

Anyway, she came through surgery and now it is a waiting game. They are watching her closely for the next few days for signs of infection, pancreatitis, and not healing. They sent the baseball sized "pocket" to pathology and they will look to see if it may have been due to a disease, congenital, etc. She might have to be on a special diet for the rest of her life. We just don't know the extent of everything at this point, but she did make it through surgery.

We will probably know more when we go visit her tomorrow.

Wow that is a lot to take in! I am so glad your sister gave you the money when she did because she could have been on sick girl when that completely block ....So glad you finally have answer!!!! And lets hope the special diet is the only change she will have to make!! Stay strong momma and now Aubrey can finally start putting on some pounds and enjoying her life!!! Let us know when you get updates!!! @ Aubrey

Re: Scared!!

We got to see Aubrey this morning!

She was doing good for having just had surgery. She wasn't as perky as usual, but she was up and moving around. We got to walk her outside for 15 minutes and spend another 20 minutes with her inside. She ate a slurry diet yesterday; she hadn't eaten yet this morning because she was turning her nose up at the slurry, but she hadn't had her nausea medicine yet since she'd just had pain meds. They are going to draw blood tomorrow to check her levels and see how that is since they gave her an iron shot this morning. If all goes well, we might get to bring her home Tuesday or Wednesday. Honestly, they can keep her a day or two extra if they have any slight anxiety about sending her home... she's been in great hands!

We didn't get a good picture of the problem over the phone yesterday, but they drew up a rough picture of the problem today. This is my re-draw of what they showed us:

Hopefully if you click it you can read the text and see it well. She doesn't have as much intestine anymore, but she's doing well so far.

Thanks to everyone for asking about her!! She's going to be so spoiled when she gets home... we just bought her a new bed to replace her old one and are planning on getting her a new blanket and some toys before we bring her home. Out with the old and sick... in with the brand new start to a hopefully healthy life. It's going to be a long road, but we're ready!